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Voices From Wales Reflect Connections To Appalachia

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On this West Virginia Morning, we explore the unique connection between Wales and Appalachia. We also bring you a report on food insecurity in the Ohio Valley, and we listen to this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture started a new program this month to buy more than $1 billion of excess farm products and send food boxes to needy families. It’s meant to make use of goods left unused due to the pandemic’s disruptions to the food supply. But as Liam Niemeyer reports, some anti-hunger advocates worry parts of the Ohio Valley may be overlooked.

Before the pandemic hit, our Inside Appalachia team was planning a reporting trip to Wales as part of our ongoing folkways project. Wales has a strong historical connection to Appalachia that we wanted to explore it. The trip has been postponed, but we still wanted to bring you some voices from our region’s sister country. Our folkways reporter Caitlin Tan has this story about two Welsh storytellers and their fascination with Appalachia.

Revered vocalist and song stylist Joan Osborne first appeared on Mountain Stage in 1995 and has continued to return, always with a different batch of songs wrapped in her singular vocal style. Our Song of the Week, “Brokedown Palace,” is a Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia collaboration from The Grateful Dead cannon, performed here by Osborne with keyboardist Keith Cotton accompanying from a show in 2015.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from CAMC and Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Caitlin Tan, Jessica Lilly, Kara Lofton, Liz McCormick, Dave Mistich, Eric Douglas, Corey Knollinger, Emily Allen, and Roxy Todd.

Brittany Patterson produces our show. Our news director is Glynis Board. Our host is Teresa Wills.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio, or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning